


Winter Doesn't Believe In Tears (but in love)

by SomberCitizen



Series: Full Metal And Frostbite [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Non-Graphic Violence, Original Character(s), idk what else to put in the tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 19:51:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11043147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomberCitizen/pseuds/SomberCitizen
Summary: Coming back from the dead, brainwashing and the attempted murder of a loved one. Nothing new under the sun. You know this song already.





	Winter Doesn't Believe In Tears (but in love)

 

 He was so warm. Like a ray of afternoon sun peeking through dense leaves of a giant sycamore. She never knew what having a real home was like, but she always thought he felt like one. So warm, so infinitely soft and inviting. She’d tell him that he was so comfortable, she could live inside him and he’d put a hand on his chest and say _“You already do.”_

At night, he would hold her, pressed so close she’d swear he was trying to mold her body into his. His arms wrapped around her so tight, like armor, making sure the darkness couldn’t get to her. He always knew, somehow, when it would try to sneak into her mind. She had never been good at showing those emotions, but he always knew when to chase it all away. With his arms, and his lips and his voice, like velvet in her ear. 

He would come to her often at night. When everyone else was gone to their own beds, he’d come into her dreams and give her some warmth. Always at the right time to pull her out of the rabbit hole, at least for a night. He’d remind her that she never had to be alone. Until death did them part _. “No.”_ he had shaken his head and smiled at her _. “Even after.”_

He was his big smile and dark eyes. He’d pull her into his lap, on that bed a little too small for him, and keep her there. His long hair and his beard, tickling her bare skin as he leaned his chin on her shoulder. She lived for these moments. When nothing but that bed existed and he was there. Like a life jacket, making sure she stayed afloat.

The bed had become like a safe haven for her. The only place where she could escape. The only place where she could still see him and feel like her old self again. It was her own private sacred place, where there it was always spring and there was the smell of pine in the air.

 

Kallista made her way to the kitchen area. Staying up until the little hours had unfortunately become such a routine by now, it would be rare that she didn’t find herself making coffee at that time.  With the growing tensions and the brass cracking down even harder, she had been in for many a sleepless nights. They wanted answers and they wanted them faster than even she was able to give.

Tucking the work tablet under her arm and making her way to the coffee maker, she almost didn’t notice Malik, staring out the window, in her sleep-deprived haze. She stopped in her stride to take them in – curled up, slightly disheveled. Their hands noticeably shaking.

Kallista turned the machine on and went to sit next to them.

“Malik, again?”

“Oh..” the sudden sound of her voice seemed to startle them a little. “H-hey, Kalli. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Of course you didn’t.” she sighed, noticing the dark circles under their eyes. “When did you last sleep?”

“It’s really not..”

“When?” she pressed. Malik ran their fingers through their hair and sighed as well. If their state was any indication it had been a while, but they forced a small smile and shook their head.

“I’m fine.” They said. “Why are you awake?”

“We’re not talking about me right now.”

The coffee maker let out a soft beep, signaling that it’s halfway done and made Malik jump in their seat. Their eyes shooting to the machine immediately. Another shake of their head and a deep exhale. Their little scare did not go unnoticed by Kallista, however.

“Mali..”

“I’m okay. Really Kallista, relajarse.” They looked up at her. She was not convinced in the slightest, tilting her head to the side and raising and eyebrow.

“You are running on empty.” She left her tablet on the counter and dragged a chair to sit next to them. “When did you last eat?”

“I.. that’s not important.” Malik tugged their sleeves to cover their shaking hands. “Deja de preocuparte, estoy bien, prometo.”

“Pero sigo preocupo.” The woman frowned and huffed a small breath. This had become such a routine for them and she did not like it one bit. They were just going in circles lately, having that same conversation over and over, like one of those old broken records. She wanted to help them, but her words could only go so far. “I care about you, Malik. We all do. It hurts seeing you like this.”

“Seeing me like what?” they looked her in the eye. “I told you, I’m fine.”

“You’re not taking care of yourself.” She shook her head and leaned close to put a hand on their shoulder. She could sense that they were trembling. “You’re not eating, you’re not sleeping..”

“I’m fi..”

“Don’t.” she said firmly. “I have eyes, Malik, I can see you are in pain.” They let their eyes fell to the ground. They knew she was right. Damn it, she was always right. But they didn’t want to admit it. They knew things were not doing fine, but they were scared. With everything that had happened.. The kids, almost dying.. They were afraid that this could very well be the last straw and they were going to be laid off and lose the only family they had ever known.

“You are avoiding things.” Kallista’s voice snapped them out of their thoughts. Another shiver rattled their body. Was someone turning the air conditioning down?

“I’m not.”

“You’re avoiding Jian.”

“I don’t.. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” They shook their head.

“Yes you do.” Kallista insisted, taking one of their hands in hers. “He’s been trying to see you every day this past week.”

“I..” there was something pressing on Malik’s windpipe, making their words come out strangled and hushed. “I.. can’t. I can’t.” their eyes were starting to itch. Tears threatening to spill over. Kallista let out a sigh and pulled her chair closer, wrapping an arm around their shoulders.

“He wants to be here for you.” She said, rubbing Malik’s arms. “We want to help.”

“I.. I don’t know if you can anymore.” Their voice was barely there, choked out. Still trying to fight the stupidly insistent tears.

“At least talk to us.” Kallista leaned down, propping her chin on the crown of their head and murmured in their hair. “Let us in, Malik. Let us help you. You don’t have to go through this by yourself.”

“I..” they started letting out a shaky breath. They were about to say that they didn’t want to burden everyone else, but the words caught in their throat, interrupted. Even with the stinging in the eyes they noticed something off. They could _see_ their breath. “Kalli?”

“Yes? You can talk to me, Malik, please..”

“Is it me, or is it really cold?”

Kallista sighed and shook her head. “Don’t change the subject.”

“No, I.. I’m serious. Look.” The urgency of their tone, made her pull back to look as they exhaled again, the air leaving their lips in a mist. Just now she noticed that it had indeed gotten really cold of the sudden and small goose bumps had covered her exposed skin.

“What the Hell?” her eyes widened and she got up to grab her tablet and start checking things. “Is someone messing with the AC?”

“I don’t think it’s the AC.” Malik’s voice came from behind her and she turned around to see them staring at the nearby window. Frost flowers were quickly blossoming over the window and travelling inside, crawling over the walls. The cold was becoming more apparent to the two with every second, both of them shivering.

“Forecast says its 27 degrees Celsius outside.” Kallista said, quickly checking a few different sources on her device. “So it can’t be a freak cold front.”

The sound of hurried steps making their way to the kitchen startled the both of them, Kallista going to a drawer and digging out a knife out of it, getting ready to attack whoever was to come through. The door swung open and she stopped in her feet seeing the familiar face of Idoya there.

“Woow.” The woman said, eyes opening wide and raising her hands in the air. “It’s just me.”

“Sorry, Doya.”  Kallista let out a sigh of relief, putting the knife down on the table.

“So you noticed it too?” Malik asked, getting closer to the two.

“Yeah, it’s freaky, no?” Idoya nodded her head towards the crawling frost over the wall. “I was at the practice range and got cold, so I came up to get a sweatshirt. But it’s just as cold here and then I saw the light in the kitchen and came to see if you’ve noticed it too.”

The sound of breaking glass made them jump. The coffee pot had frozen over, the drastic change in the temperature of the liquid inside making it shatter into pieces.  

“It’s everywhere, I checked.” A voice came from the door, making the small group turn around fast to see Gabriel Reyes standing there, looking highly on edge and slightly dishevelled, like he had been running. “The entire base has gone arctic.”

“Did you see anyone?” Idoya asked.

“No.”

“Sensors should’ve picked up if anyone had broken in.” Kallista shook her head.

“Check manually.” Gabriel nodded in her direction. “Someone could’ve messed with them.”

“You.. think we’re under attack?” Malik’s small voice piped in, as they rubbed their hands together. The cold was starting to affect them, making their limbs numb.

“We might.”

“There’s no one but authorised personnel in the building.” Kallista was typing on the tablet, quickly checking every quadrant on the base. Then something, very small caught her eye. “Wait.. Gabriel come here.” She called him over with her hand, passing the device for him to see. Right on the southern wall, there was a faint, barely there heat signature.

“There _is_ someone then.” He frowned.

“Right outside Lyudmila’s bedroom window.”  She confirmed, slight dread starting to creep up inside her.

Like clockwork, just then, a loud crash echoed through the halls, making everyone turn around and head for the sleeping quarters. The cold had been a diversion. Whoever was attacking had just made their first move.

 

It wasn’t a quick change. The warm breeze in her dream started getting chillier and even his warm embrace couldn’t stop the sudden shivers that ran down her spine. The scenery started to gradually change. The bed floated to an island in the middle of a frozen tundra, the wind biting hard into her skin.

“Do you feel that?” she asked him, but he just smiled at her. Something felt off all of the sudden. This wasn’t right. He never let the cold in here, but this place.. This place was familiar. Painfully so.

She wriggled out of his grasp and went to walk around. She definitely knew this place. The frozen earth, the barren landscape, the tall industrial building in the distance.. The dozen bodies littering the ground. It wasn’t until she saw the nearest one’s face that the red flags started waving in her mind. Popova. And right next to her Melekhin. Both of them covered in blood and burns, with veiled over eyes staring right at her. Accusing her.

Her eyes trailed from the corpses, to _him._ He was standing by the river calling her over with his hand. Whispering words of comfort, that wind carried to her ears. She ran to him. What else could she do, when his voice was so soft and so inviting.

_“Just like that.”_ He said, wrapping his strong arms around her. _“Come to me.”_ He said, walking backwards, into the river. The cold water was slowly reaching her feet. _“Come where you belong.”_

His voice had gained a hypnotic quality to it, making her forget about everything. So much so, that she didn’t even notice that they were both halfway in the river and he was pulling under the ice. When she did, the deathly chill forcing her aware, it was already too late. His eyes had veiled over, his lips turned blue and a mouth full of cruel teeth was smiling at her.

_“You belong here.”_ His voice had turned razor sharp and his grip, like a vice, was not letting her escape. _“With us. With all of us, you left to rot.”_ He had almost succeeded in getting her under the ice, when something, somewhere with a loud crash made her eyes snap open.

It took her only a second to register that while the dream was over the cold had stayed and a giant icicle was poised to spear her throat. She acted on instinct, jumping off the bed and retrieving the knife she always kept under her pillow.

Before her stood a towering figure clad in, what she could see in the barely lit room, armor. She only had a split moment to observe however, as her would be assassin lunged at her again. She managed to evade his attack, jumping to the side as the icicle in his hand pierced through the bed. Lyudmila tried to stab at him with her own weapon, taking advantage of his hunched over figure, but the blade shattered upon impact with his back.

The attacker growled, before grabbing her hand and pulling her to his chest. His entire body emitted cold and she could feel her skin protesting at the contact. He was the source of the cold that had taken over the entire room. Lyudmila tried wriggling out of his grasp, throwing a hard metal elbow to his head, but he was prepared. With a quick arch of his back he sent her flying upside down, painfully colliding with the wardrobe.

She only had a couple seconds to collect herself, before he was up and walking towards her again. Standing up, she barely escaped another ice spear, putting her metal hand in front of its target and shattering it. Garnering some sense of an upper hand, she grabbed his shoulder delivering a couple knees to his gut and swinging him into the wall. When it came to her delivering another blow, however, the assailant proved faster and got out of the way, leaving Lyudmila’s prosthetic to crack the plaster and lodge itself into the concrete under.

Seeing an open moment, the man’s hand snaked around her, grasping her throat hard and throwing her to the ground, her head bouncing off upon impact. Her daze was interrupted by his other hand splayed over her chest, keeping her down. The cold started creeping over her body again, her chest feeling tight and every beat of her heart feeling like a painful blow to her rib cage.

Despite the freeze overcoming her, travelling all over from her torso, Lyudmila somehow managed to clear her mind enough to make her legs work and kick him hard in the stomach. Throwing him back over her head, his hands left her to steady his landing. She turned around to catch her breath, only to be picked up by the neck again and slammed into the door. Before she could do anything his foot came to her middle, hard enough to break the door and send her flying through the hallway, into the wall.

From her right she heard hurried footsteps stop in their tracks and a couple of people gasping in surprise. Turning back to her attacker, she saw him emerging from the room, holding yet another glacial spear aimed for her.

Following the loud crash, the group arrived at the hallway leading to Lyudmila’s bedroom just in time to see her flying out the door and colliding with the wall in front, her head bouncing off the concrete. Momentarily her hand went to press on the back of her skull, before she turned to look their way. There is a second of silence, before they all saw a massive armored figure make its way out of the room and head straight for the still frazzled woman on the floor. A giant icy spear in his hand.

It took Idoya only a split moment to assess the situation, before upholstering the pistol, she had been practising with before, and take aim at the intruder’s weapon. By the time her bullets shattered the spear in his hand, Kallista had already taken off running in his direction, with Gabriel close behind. Idoya and Malik had attempted to do the same and follow, but with a wave of his hand, the attacker had raised a thick icy wall, blocking the hallway and the two’s way of joining their comrades.

The armored man had quickly recovered from the surprising arrival of the four and was making his way to Lyudmila again, when Kallista managed to reach them and get in between just in time to block a hard punch, that sent her back a few steps. Steadying herself, she took a defensive stance in front of her teammate, shielding her from her attacker.

“Lyuda?” she called after her, glancing back for a second. The older woman was trying to get up, but it was clear she was having a hard time remaining upright. From the look of the small trail of red on the wall behind her, her head had collided quite hard with it, possibly earning her a rather mean concussion.

“Look out!” she managed to slur out and Kallista turned around to see a metal clad fist coming towards her. She was getting ready to try and block it, when a hand grabbed it and twisted it away. Gabriel had arrived just in time to give Kallista the break she needed to drag Lyudmila away, into relative safety.

The attacker, however, had different plans. Keeping his eyes on the two women a cold chill began creeping from his body and travelling down Gabriel’s arm. Feeling his skin begin to freeze, the man quickly tore himself away from the other, taking a step back to give himself some space. Before the intruder had managed to take another step towards the others he was flung into the wall behind him, Gabriel managing to deliver two hard feet right into his chest.

Jumping back to his feet, the commander noticed the mask tumbling to the floor and his eyes went to look at the uncovered face of the attacker. His tied up hair had fallen out of the pony tail it was held in, framing the slightly familiar features of a dark eyed man with a big scar across his right eye and a full beard. Behind him on his left he heard two gasps and just as it began dawning on him who he was looking at, Lyudmila’s quiet voice echoed through the hallway.

“Dima?”

The man in front of Gabriel did not answer as he stood up slowly, black eyes staring daggers, pass him and into Lyudmila. Not even a sliver of recognition in his expression, as he took off running, ramming his armored shoulder into Gabriel’s and pushing him out of his way. He stumbled back into the wall, as shot rang out from behind the ice barrier separating them from Idoya and Malik.

Without the commander in his path Dima made his way to the other side of the hallway, where Lyudmila was leaning against the wall staring at him, pale faced and blank eyed.

“Dios mio..” Kallista barely managed to react before long metallic fingers encircled her throat and lifted her off the ground. She felt her skin burn painfully cold at the contact, but it did not last as she was flung back to the ground, where hard broken shards of ice embedded themselves into the skin of her knees and palms.

More shots came from the frozen wall, bullet trying to break through the barrier, and a slew of colorful curses in Spanish following. But none of that caught Dima’s attention and as Gabriel was helping Kallista up and making his way to the attacker a couple of things clicked in his mind. One – judging by the faint whirring sounds he could hear coming from his body, he was not entirely human. And two – the only person Dima was actively going after was Lyudmila. He had only engaged him or Kallista in order to get them out of his way. Coupled with the lack of recognition in his expression that led Gabriel to the only conclusion he could imagine – that man was no longer who he used to be and his only goal at the moment was killing his second in command.

With all that in mind, Gabriel aimed his punches at the only exposed flesh he could see – Dima’s face and throat. Managing to get the cyborg down on his knees for a moment, he took the chance to aid Idoya in her attempt to break down the wall with a hard kick. A couple more bullets later and a portion of it was down, enough for the two behind it to manage to pass through, Idoya immediately attempting to shoot the downed Dima, but a hand clutching her shirt made her barely miss his head.

“Don’t.. ” Lyudmila, barely chocked out.

“What..” Malik began, Kallista’s tablet in their hand as they too noticed the person who had been attacking them. They slowly turned to look at the woman by Idoya’s side and her face told them all they needed to know. That was indeed exactly who it looked like.

“Don’t kill him.” She begged.

“What do you mean, don..” Idoya started, but was interrupted when Dima rose up again and attempted to remove her out his way. She, however, managed to evade him, grabbing one of his hands and twisting it behind his back. “Who sent you?” she yelled at him, as he was attempting to escape her grasp.

“It’s pointless asking him questions. He’s not gonna answer.” Gabriel shook his head and made his way to Malik. “Try to shut down his systems.”

“His.. what?” They looked up at the commander. It was all happening too fast. Too fast and too much and they could barely feel their fingers in the cold that was still lingering in the hallway. They were operating on not even half capacity at the moment, lacking both sleep and energy.

“His systems!” Gabriel repeated, assisting Idoya in keeping the man down as he growled, his wild eyes refusing to leave Lyudmila even for a second. “He’s a fucking cyborg, shut him down!”

“Right.. right..” Malik shook their head. It didn’t make any sense. The man was supposed to be dead. They had seen pictures of the site. The destruction, the carnage, burning bodies and bloodied limbs everywhere. How had he managed to survive? How was there even anything left of him? They were still hazy, not entirely fully registering what Gabriel had asked them to do. The snarling, thrashing man in front of them making Malik take a few steps back, shaking and lean on the wall behind them and try to get themselves together.

After a couple of minutes of recuperating, Kallista joined the clearly out of it Malik with a hand on their shoulder. “ Get it together, Mali. I’ll help, okay?” she said, taking the tablet out of their hands. “Ah, fuck.” She cursed under her breath noticing the slightly cracked screen. It took he a few taps to manage to get it working like she wanted it to and started working on breaking into the systems that kept Dima functioning.

Behind the two of them, Lyudmila was still trying to get her head to stop spinning and get herself standing upright, but she couldn’t get her eyes of the man being restrained by Gabriel and Idoya. Never in her entire time of knowing him had she seen that look on his face. Blank and yet still so focused and full of anger. Anger aimed towards her. What had happened to him?

She got herself to full height, still leaning back on the wall, little white specks still dancing in her vision. It was like she had waved a red flag in front of Dima. The moment he registered her moving, he doubled down on his attempts to break free, managing to get on his feet and push back, slamming Idoya’s back into the concrete behind them, and swiping a leg under Gabriel’s feet sending him to the ground. Before either of them could do anything, with a wave of his hands, thick ice walls rose from the ground, trapping them both in place. With them out of the way, he once again turned his attention to Lyudmila.

“Shit.” Kallista hissed, shoving the tablet back into Malik’s hands. “I’ve laid out the base, finish it!” she said before throwing herself in the cyborg’s way. Dodging a couple of punches she looked back. “Lyuda! Come on!” another dodge. That one was close. “Get out of your head and do something!”

“I..” the woman started. God damn it, she should do something. Closing her eyes for a second and taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself down enough she was interrupted by Kallista’s pained scream. “Kalli!” she yelled, seeing her friend being taken down, her arms twisted behind her back at a sickening angle.

Without a second to lose, Lyudmila pushed herself off the wall and rammed her knee full speed into Dima’s face, blood instantly erupting from his nose. She stumbled a bit, her head still swimming, but managed to still herself enough to get Kallista off the floor. She ran back, to assist Malik, hissing as she moved her right arm that had popped out of its socket and was hanging limp by her side.

“It’s okay.” Kallista said, gritting her teeth at the pain in her shoulder. “We can do this.” She nodded, as Malik was slumping down on the wall, their entire body shaking. On the opposing side, Idoya and Gabriel were still struggling to get themselves out of their frozen binding. In the middle, Lyudmila was standing. Dima after a second of shock, jumped back on his feet, wiping the blood of his face with the back of his hand.

“Ty khochesh ubit menya?!” Lyudmila, yelled. The sound echoing in the hallway and making her head hurt even more. “Nu davay.” She called the man in front of her with her fingers. Tears were starting to sting in her eyes, but she ignored them. “Bog znayet, ya eto zasluzhila.” She sighed as he charged her with a bestial growl.

She managed to avoid it, if barely. Even after all these years, after everything, she still knew how he moved. Throwing a quick elbow at his already broken nose, she pushed him back again. Enough to give her the space for what she needed to do. Raising her prosthetic hand she aimed. A second later, bright red light filled the hallway. She ran towards him. In the second before they collided he had manifested yet another ice spear and meeting her in the middle he plunged it into her right shoulder. Despite the pain, she still managed to grab him and wrap her metal arm tightly around his neck, in a vice-like headlock. As she brought him to the ground, the hard laser net ,she had deployed, fell over both of them, trapping them there and giving Kallista and Malik enough time to finish shutting down Dima’s systems.

By the time the net dissipated he had stopped struggling in her arms, only growling in frustration as all of his limbs had been rendered useless by the two hackers. Idoya and Gabriel had finally managed to break through the ice, their arms covered in small cuts and angry red frost bites. Lyudmila pushed herself of the ground again, leaning against the wall, trying to pull out the massive icicle out of her shoulder.

The hallway was quiet for a few beats. Everyone trying to assess the situation and recollect themselves. Idoya was the first one to break the silence.“Is.. is anyone going to tell me who that is?” he nodded towards the angry motionless cyborg on the floor. “And why we were supposed to not kill him?”

Gabriel let out a deep sigh, turning to look at Lyudmila with questioning eyes. She mirrored the noise, giving up on trying to pull the lodged icicle out of her shoulder and nodded. There was no real point in trying to hide it anyway. Better get it over with.

“This is Captain Dmitri Safin of the SPETSNAZ Vector Squad.” Gabriel said, taking off the hoodie, he had half hazardly thrown on earlier, and draping it over Malik’s trembling shoulders. “Lyudmila’s husband.”

Idoya’s eyes immediately turned to the woman. “Qué demonios, you’re married?!” she threw her arms in the air in disbelief. “To him!?” she pointed at Dima. Idoya knew there were many secrets being kept in Blackwatch, but never actually suspected Lyudmila had any of this kind. Somehow it seemed so unlike her to be involved with anyone in that way.

“Not anymore, I’m not.” Lyudmila shook her head.

“He was assumed dead together with the rest of Vector Squad.” Gabriel added.

“I.. you have to explain more.” Idoya paced around the hallway. “This can’t be the whole story. You were there, weren’t you?”

Gabriel sighed again, leaning back against the wall. He was there. Maybe this was partly on him. They had never bothered checking the charred bodies and just assumed he had been one of them. “I was.” He nodded. “There were many corpses..” he started, cautiously glancing at Lyudmila. “.. most of them were.. beyond being able to be identified. He could’ve been any one of them.”

“Am I the only person who doesn’t know this?” Idoya looked around the people in the hallway. It was obvious Malik and Kallista knew. From the moment the ice wall had broken down and she joined the fight she noticed the looks they were throwing at the second in command.

“Only the three of them know.” Lyudmila shook her head.

“Why didn’t you ever..”

“Because it’s no one’s fucking business, that’s why.” She snapped. Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself off the wall and began walking down the hallway on unsteady feet. “I’m going to the medbay. I highly advise you to do the same.” She was almost at the turn, when someone bumped hard into her, making her stumble back and almost fall.

“I’m so sorry!” the voice of a familiar doctor exclaimed, before gasping loudly when he noticed the large icicle sticking out of her shoulder blade. “Oh gods..”

“Watch where you’re going, Mikami.” Lyudmila spat out with more venom than usual, looking up to meet his eyes. “Malik’s there.” She nodded back.

“I.. are you..”

“Right. There.” She growled pointing at the other end of the hallway with her good hand, before continuing on her way to the medical wing. At this moment, she wanted nothing more than to get rid of the pain and be alone.

By the time Jin reached the group in the hallway, a few more agents had made their way to the site. Apparently until now all doors had been locked. There was no doubt in Gabriel’s mind that Dima had not been alone and there was someone outside supporting him. He quickly ordered a couple of them to go check the entire premise and the other to move the cyborg to the cells down in the basement.

“No questions, just do it. And not a word to anyone else.” he ordered. The agents looked among themselves and everyone there before nodding and getting to work. “Mikami? What are you doing here?” Gabriel asked when he noticed Jin.

“I..um..” he started, before hearing a pained groan come from Malik and heading there. He began frantically checking them all over. “I have to get you out of here.” He shook his head, snaking an arm under their legs.

“I.. didn’t want you to see me like this.” Malik whimpered, still shaking as Jin picked them up. “I..”

“No, save your energy.” Jin began walking towards the end of the hallway, determined to get Malik somewhere warmer, where he could give them some proper care. “We’ll talk when you’re better, mi principe estrella.” He cooed as he took them away from the rest.

Watching them leave Gabriel turned his attention to Kallista. “We should get you to the medbay as well.” He said.

“I’ll be fine.” She shook her head.

“You need to get your arm checked out, come on.” He insisted, walking to her and cautiously placing an arm on her waist, letting her use his for support as they walk. “Idoya, you too.” He called turning his head back. The woman wordlessly nodded and caught up to them. Entering the empty medical wing, one of the on duty medics ran to them with a worried look on his face, checking over everyone and getting Kallista to a bed to set her arm straight.

“ What happened?” he asked, as he carefully touched around the dislocated shoulder. “The Lieutenant came a few minutes before you with a..”

“I know.” Gabriel nodded. “We were attacked. We handled it.” He was being vague and he knew the medic could tell. If he had to be completely honest, he really didn’t know what exactly had happened. There were too many questions still in the air. Who had sent Dmitri? Why had they sent him? He was thankful however, that the doctor simply nodded and continued on his work.

“I think I went too far..” Idoya mumbled suddenly. She had been strangely quiet after Lyudmila left and Gabriel could sense her discomfort.

“No, kid..” he shook his head. “You’re fine. It’s just..” Kallista’s pained half-yell, as her shoulder was being put back it it’s place, cut him off and he winced.

“It’s a sensitive topic.” The hacker finished his sentence for him and he nodded in agreement. “She doesn’t.. like talking about it.” He let out a long shaky breath, as the medic put her arm in a sling.

The medic continued with his examinations of all three of them. Treating their cuts and frost bite, without asking any more questions and recommending that Idoya ad Kallista stay in bed at least until the next day. They had both suffered some minor concussions on top of the cuts and bruises all three of them were sporting.

After making sure they were comfortable and well taken care of Gabriel asked to go see Lyudmila too. He was shown to a private room, where the lieutenant was sitting in a bed, bandages over her shoulder and around her head with an IV drip by her side. She was awake, staring out the window, but she heard him come in.

“Tell Idoya I’m sorry I snapped at her.” She said.

“Tell her yourself later.” He replied, leaning against the small cabinet at the foot of the bed.

“Are her and Kallista okay?”

“They have minor concussions and some cuts and bruises. The medic set Kalli’s shoulder back.” He nodded. “They’ll have to stay the night here, but they’re okay.”

“And Malik?”

“They are with Mikami.” Gabriel nodded again. “If I know one thing about him, it’s that he’ll take good care of them.”

“And you?”

“I’m good.” He let out a small chuckle, before frowning again. “Are _you_ okay?”

Lyudmila sighed and bit her lips, turning to face him. “We have to figure out who sent him and how they learned about..” she began, but Gabriel shook his head and interrupted her.

“We can all talk about this later, when everyone is recovered.”

“Fine.” She nodded and resumed looking out the window.

“Lyudmila.” His voice was more stern than before. “Are you okay?”

She let out another sigh, turning her head up to look at the ceiling. Was she okay? She had just learned that the one person, whose death weighed down on her the most, the one person she had once loved more than anything, whose life she had valued more than her own, was alive. And not only did he not recognise her at all, he was absolutely set on killing her. Was she okay?

“No.” she shook her head, after a couple minutes of silence. “I’m not.” She said, letting her eye fall on him. “But I will be.”

“Are you sure?”

“I have to.” She let out a bitter laugh.

“You know you can take as much time to recover as you want right?”

“I know.” She nodded and slunk down in her bed. “Go be with the others.”

“Yeah.” Gabriel let out a sigh heading for the door. At this point, he knew Lyudmila well enough to see the signs of when she didn’t want anyone around. “Okay. Get well.”

“I will.” She said and before he exited the room, he heard a barely mumbled. “You guys need me to be.”

They all ended up spending the night at the medical wing. Gabriel had messaged Jin and gotten a reply that Malik was being taken care of at his room and would probably need a few more days to recover. _“Good.”_ He thought. Maybe they could finally have that talk that Malik had been avoiding for so long. The other agents had came over to report that they had not found any trace of anyone being outside, but Gabriel knew. There had been someone assisting Dmitri. Someone who knew the layout of the Blackwatch building and more importantly – knew his agents. Something was telling him that this attack had only been the beginning of something much larger and much more sinister, he couldn’t yet put his finger on.

 

In the morning news came. Gerard Lacroix, the Overwatch agent Lyudmila had been working with, the leader of the strike against Talon, had been killed in his sleep. His wife Amelie – gone again.

**Author's Note:**

> Not entirely sure why I'm posting this. Suppose I just didn't want it to gather dust in my google drive.  
> The original characters belong to the Drabblewatch Blackwatch Crew. <3


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